Victoria
When I woke, the sun shone brightly through the blinds. Carter slept next to me, on top of the covers, with one arm resting over me, holding the now-dry washcloth on my forehead. My body no longer hurt.
Could my dreams of Toby be real? If they were, that meant I was a werewolf.
That was totally crazy. But then again, so was having my essence sucked out by a... a... whatever Soleil was. I'd been avoiding her like the plague, so I'd had no chance to find out what exactly she was.
Carter's arm twitched and he rolled onto his back, letting out a little snore. He shivered.
I pulled the comforter up from me, covered him, and crept out of bed without disturbing him. I tiptoed over to the window and lifted a blind. Water dripped from everything, the only remnant of the previous night's storm. Otherwise, it looked like a sunny autumn day with so many trees showing off their beautiful array of colors. Carter whispered something. I went over to him. He mumbled something about cats.
I grinned. He was a cute sleep-talker.
He'd probably stayed awake a long time keeping an eye on me, so I decided to let him sleep. I went into the hall, found a bathroom, and took a shower. Normally, I wouldn't have been too excited about wearing the same clothes, but I didn't mind. I'd survived that horrible pain and other than that, had had a wonderful date with Carter—and he'd been the perfect gentleman, not trying anything.
My heart warmed, thinking about him. He was such a great guy. I'd really lucked out meeting him.
I went back to the bedroom and dug some makeup out of my backpack—Carter must have brought it upstairs. He was seriously the most perfect guy ever.
Once I was happy with the way I looked, I pulled out my laptop and worked on my midterm psychology paper. I had five thousand of ten thousand words.
After a while, Carter rolled over and rubbed his eyes. "How are you feeling?" he asked, his voice raspy from sleep.
"Like new. Thanks so much for everything." I set my computer aside and pressed my lips on his.
He backed up, covering his mouth. "I probably have morning breath."
"Me, too. I have no toothbrush here." I kissed him again.
Carter grabbed me and pulled me down next to him. "We'll have to fix that, won't we?"
I giggled. "Maybe."
"How about we start with me giving you the day off?" His voice was husky and gave me the chills.
"Oh, that sounds heavenly."
He smiled and ran his knuckles along my jawline.
I took his hand and kissed a fingertip. "Oh, wait. I can't do that to Yurika."
Carter frowned. "Why not? I'll send one of the bouncers in to replace you if I have to."
"As much as I'd like to see that, I can't do that to her.
There's a big wedding party, and we have to get them all ready."
He smacked his forehead. "My cousin's wedding! I'm supposed to usher. Crap, I totally forgot about that."
I checked the time. "We'd both better get going, in that case. I don't have much time—I told Yurika I'd be there a little early."
Carter scrambled out of the bed. "Let me just take a quick shower. Five minutes, I swear."
"Okay."
"Wanna join me?" He gave me pouty eyes.
"Sorry. I guess I'm just not that kind of girl."
He leaned over and planted a kiss on my lips. "And that's part of what I love about you. You're old-fashioned, and you won't bend on your standards."
My eyes widened. Love?
"I'll get you there on time, I swear. Five minutes."
I nodded, unable to speak.
Carter ran out of the room and soon I heard a shower running. I packed up my bag and mentally prepared myself for a busy day. So far, the spa had never had too many clients at a time, but Yurika had warned me today would be crazy—and that it was extra important that we do everything perfectly.
I'd been doing well, getting better every day. I could do this. In fact, I would impress Yurika.
He ran into the room, his hair slicked back and water dripping down his face. "Like I said, under five minutes. Let's go."
I wiped some drops from under his eye and brushed my lips across his. "You're simply amazing."
Carter closed his eyes. "You're going to have to stop, or neither of us will leave here."
"Right." I stepped back and grabbed my backpack.
"Let's go. Do you want me to drop you off at the Jag or take you to your car?"
"I'd better take my car to work. You're probably going to be busy with the wedding."
"You could always join me." He frowned and ran a finger across my mouth. "I'd love to show you off." He cringed. "That sounded bad. I mean to introduce you to everyone."
First love, and now he wanted me to meet his entire extended family? I adored him, but I wasn't ready for all of that. "You're the sweetest, but I have to work on Massaro's paper tonight."
Carter scowled. "That slave driver. Yeah, I should be working on that, too. Looks like another all-nighter for me."
We grumbled about our professor until we reached his car.
"Your car's at home, right?" he asked.
"Yeah. Sorry, I hope it's not too far out of the way." "Nah. And if I show up late, Dad has it coming after the jerk he's been lately." His phone rang. "Speak of the devil." "When do I get to meet him?"
Carter flinched. "You want to meet the scum bag?" "Um, not so much when you put it that way."
"Trust me. I'm protecting you. Besides, he's really busy and thinks he's too important to meet my friends."
"Oh, okay." It seemed strange, but I pushed aside those feelings.
When we reached the Waldensian, he got out and held my door open for me. He stared into my eyes. "I'm going to miss you tonight." He pulled me close and gave me a long, sweet kiss before climbing into his car and speeding away.
I went inside, my heart fluttering. People said hi as I passed, but I barely noticed. Now I understood what it meant to have my breath taken away. In my room, I tossed my backpack onto my bed before digging through my closet for some fresh clothes.
Sasha came out of the bathroom and gasped and squealed. "Were you...?"
"What?" I pulled out some dressy slacks and a lavender silk top—my wardrobe had improved dramatically since working at the Jag. She gave me a once-over. "Same clothes as yesterday. Gone all night. Your handsome prince?"
"Wait, it's not what you're thinking."
"Girl, we have to talk!"
"Seriously, I got sick after the power outage and—"
"What power outage?"
"His place lost power during the storm."
"You were at his place." Her eyes widened.
"I. Got. Sick." I took a deep breath. "Look, nothing happened."
"Where'd you sleep?"
"In a guest room."
Her expression drooped. "Oh. Hey, where'd he sleep?" "He was busy taking care of me. I have to get to work.
Seriously." I took off my clothes for the second time that morning.
"Where'd he sleep?"
"Nothing. Happened." I put on my new clothes and went into the bathroom to style my hair. Sasha followed me in. "Well at least you've forgotten about the professor."
I froze, holding the hot flat iron on my hair.
"You're going to burn your hair!"
I put the iron down. "What do you mean?"
"You've been so mopey since your math instructor vanished. I can't even think of his name."
"It's plastered all over town."
"I know, but I haven't paid attention in a while." Sighing, I picked up the flat iron and continued straightening my hair. "His name is Professor Foley, and I wasn't moping over him."
She gave me a knowing look. "Anyway, I'm more interested to hear about your night at Carter's. Did you remember to get any pictures yet?"
"Just some selfies of the two of us."
"Before you got sick, right?" She arched a brow. "Precisely." I put the iron down, fluffed out my hair, and fixed my mascara.
"Your lipstick is smudged." Sasha threw me a playful smirk.
I fixed it. "He did kiss me," I admitted. "But that was it."
She sighed dramatically. "You're either the most boring person alive or the most exciting, and totally holding out on me."
I sprayed some perfume and spun around. "I gotta get to work."
"Details. Later."
"Okay. I'll tell you all about us doing homework and making hot chocolate."
"Boring. Well, if you want your secrets, I can't blame you. But I'm going to use my wild, vivid imagination. Your choice."
"Texting my boss now."
Victoria: On my way. Hope I'm not late.
She was so formal with everything, I even had to properly spell out my texts.
Yurika: The wedding party is having lunch. You have an hour.
Victoria: Thanks!
Yurika: Carter said something came up, but please be on time.
Victoria: I will. I promise.
Sasha pouted. "Are you sure you don't have time to spill just one juicy detail?"
"Sorry. I gotta go." I grabbed my purse, hurried to my car, and then parked on the side of the road near campus. My mind was racing, and my conversation with Sasha hadn't helped.
One of Toby's missing fliers hung loosely on a pole. I climbed out and stared at the faded picture. Someone bumped into me. "Sorry. You know what I heard?" He glanced toward the flier.
"What?"
"That his cult chopped him up and put the pieces into stew."
"You're disgusting."
He shrugged and kept walking.
I clung to the paper and got back into my car. It wasn't until I tried starting it that I realized I was shaking. I took a few deep breaths and finally drove to the Jag. I put on soft instrumental music. There was no way I could afford a repeat of the day I'd spilled nail polish on that lady's dress. By the time I pulled into the Jag's lot, my mind had calmed down. I waved to the doorman as I entered ahead of the line. Yurika shot me a grateful expression when I arrived. "A couple of the girls are already here. I'm going to start them with pedis. When the next ones get here, start them with facials."
"Do we have any help?"
She nodded. "Lucy and Julia will be here after their break."
"Oh, good."
"Tell me about it. We're going to need all the help we can get today."
And I was going to need all the focus I could manage. My mind kept wandering to both Carter and Toby, and when I was at the spa, I always found myself hoping Carter would pop in and surprise me. He rarely did, though, because his father kept him busy when he wasn't studying. But it didn't keep me from wishing